580 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



same course, through heath and brushwood, we crossed a large 

 fourth- magnitude creek, falling to the east, roaring over a ledge 

 of brown sandstone. 



After a mile of travelling to the north, over low HEATH, we had 

 to cut a passage through a belt of BRUSHWOOD. In a mile and a 

 half further to the north, over low open heath, we came to the edge 

 of a DENSE SCRUB. Seeing some hills to the east, with forest timber, 

 we made for them, in the hope of finding grass for the horses. 

 The heathy country traversed to-day was utterly DESTITUTE OF 



GRASS. 



In half a mile (east-north-east) we camped on the left bank of 

 a gully running to the north-west in a patch of stringybark country, 

 with a little very coarse and very poor grass the WORST CAMP we 

 have had yet. (CAMP 50.) 



Before coming into camp, Crosbie spied a BLACK FELLOW cutting 

 down a tree with an AMERICAN AXE. 



Having settled the camp, Crosbie and I ascended the hill to 

 the east. We found it to be composed of sandstone in horizontal 

 beds. Its eastern side was banked up with hillocks of BLOWN 

 SAND closely matted with SCRUB. At our feet lay a circular LAGOON, 

 about a quarter of a mile in diameter, enclosed by sand-hills. The 

 lagoon had its outlet in a creek which ran first north and then west, 

 to join the gully on which we were camped. 



We could see across SHELBURNE BAY, with sand-hills in the fore- 

 ground, and sand-hills on RODNEY POINT. The SAND-HILLS extend 

 inland for about 10 miles, and reach an elevation of about 300 feet 

 circumstances which suggest a RECENT ELEVATION of the land. 

 Their eastern or seaward slopes are very steep, and their western 

 sides still steeper. Except where the slope is too steep for vegeta- 

 tion, they are covered by a DENSE LOW SCRUB like sloe bushes. 



We saw the smokes of several CAMP FIRES among the sand-hills. 

 The low- wooded rocks, named the MACARTHUR ISLANDS, lay due 

 east. To the north-north-east, we saw the Messrs. Jardines' 

 RICHARDSON RANGE, whose scarp extends to the south-south-west. 

 It is tolerably distinct, and appears to be covered with dense black 

 scrub. 1 All the intervening country is bleak and wretched in the 

 extreme BOG, HEATH AND BRUSHWOOD. To the north-east we 

 saw some clumps of HOOP-PINE on the SAND-HILLS. 



The night was cloudy, but no rain fell. 



March i. One of the prospectors' horses was missing in the 

 morning, and we made a late start in consequence. RAIN began 

 as we left, and for three hours some of the heaviest showers of the 

 season aggravated our difficulties with SCRUBS AND BOGS. 



On leaving Camp 50, we followed the creek down for half a 

 mile to the north-west, when we crossed it, and cut our way for 



1 It is more likely that the Brothers Jardine applied the name to the ridge, or shelf, 

 of sandstone which they crossed between their Camps 73 and 74. R. L. J. 



